Things about Win2000

This a/noon I have seen helping a buddy with some probs on his 2000 system

A couple of things however would not respond to my ministratins.I wonder therefore is 2000[about which I nkow not a lot] has differences to its predaseser [98 etc- or its successor XP

1. The modem will not 'hang up' when done with andthe short cuts I know were not there or did not respond in 2000 .

2. I wanted in association with the above to place a shortcut of the modem on the bottom desk top task bar- So short cut to desk-top drag to task bar.To the desktop OK- but it would not get itself to the task bar. dragging it brought up the No entry sign on an empty task bar.Any tips would be appreciated